Amazon Web Services suspended service for Parler after it
was used by supporters of President Donald Trump to organise the storming of
the US Capitol last week. Parler sued, asking a federal judge in Seattle to
order AWS to reinstate its web-hosting immediately. Amazon objected to the move
late Tuesday.
“Compelling AWS to host content that plans, encourages, and
incites violence would be unprecedented,” the company said in a court filing.
AWS said it voiced concerns to Parler in November about information on its
platform threatening violence, and that after issuing a warning about the
January 6 riot, AWS continued to see “problematic content.” In response, AWS
said, Parler described steps that would rely “almost exclusively on
volunteers.”
Parler said in its antitrust complaint that pulling the plug
on its social network is life-threatening to the company. As an alternative to
Twitter, it argues that AWS's actions reduce competition in social media.
Parler's web traffic had surged as Twitter and Facebook have
made efforts to curb inflammatory content. Apple and Alphabet's Google removed
Parler from their app stores over the weekend.
AWS said in Tuesday's filing that it has suspended and not
terminated Parler's account, and explained that the companies' agreement
requires Parler to ensure that its content doesn't violate AWS policies - or
the law. “It was Parler who breached the agreement, by hosting content
advocating violence and failing to timely take that content down,” AWS said in
the filing.
David J. Groesbeck, a Spokane, Washington-based lawyer
representing Parler, had no immediate comment.
AWS is by far the largest cloud-computing provider, and its
on-demand software services are the backbone for many of the most popular
internet services. Parler has ”no other options” to be on the web, it said in
the suit.
The case is Parler vs Amazon Web Services, 21-cv-00031, US
District Court, Western District of Washington.
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